This invention generally relates to a device for maintaining ingredients separate in liquid food products until the time of use, and more particularly, to such improvements as used with standard beverage bottles or cans.
In the storage of liquid foodstuffs, and particularly beverages, the food product can have better flavor, have a longer shelf life, be made without preservatives, and/or can use less stable or unstable ingredients if certain of the ingredients can be stored separately from the carrier liquid until the food product is to be consumed. For example, a beverage can have better taste if the flavoring can be stored in dry form and mixed with the carrier liquid just prior to use. Some flavorings, oils, vitamins, supplements, medicines, and other ingredients when mixed with water, soda, or other liquid media are unstable, and therefore may not be used with currently sold beverages and liquid mixtures. Oxygenated water is known to have health benefits but is chemically reactive, and therefore flavors, vitamins, supplements, and pharmaceuticals cannot be combined with it in a stored product. Many beverages, sauces, and condiments require high levels of preservatives to control fermentation with sugar content.
Prior devices have been proposed for storing ingredients separately from the carrier liquid until the product is to be used, however they have a number of disadvantages. Some devices, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,779,372, 5,529,179, 5,431,276, and 5,885,635, for example, have a burstable compartment attached to the underside of the container lid or cap which is burst open to mix ingredients into the carrier liquid by levering a puncturing tab or depressing a plunger element with an applied pressure. However, these devices may be unsafe or messy to use since a high applied pressure must be used to burst open the compartment, and may cause the ingredients spew out it of the container or back toward the user.
Other devices, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,179,275 3,225,915, or 5,064,073, for example, have a sub-compartment formed in the container top or held in the container neck with can be accessed by removing an outer seal strip, flap, or membrane. However, these devices are not suitable for the current vending machine environment, since the outer sealing member can become accidentally dislodged or punctured during transport or handling.
Some devices, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,024,952, 4,221,291 and 4,264,007, for example, have one or more sub-compartments formed inside the container on the underside of the container lid or cap which have a tilting or gate type element that is actuated by releasing or applying pressure to a component from the outside of the container lid or cap. These types of devices have the disadvantage that the ingredients are completely discharged into the liquid upon release, and cannot be metered or controllably added to the liquid according to the tastes of the user.
Another device, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,011, for example, has a removable sub-container with removable seal which rests in the container neck covered by the container cap until it is ready to be used. However, this type of device has only a single compartment and does not have provision for easily metering ingredients into the container after the seal is opened.
Other types of devices, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,011, for example, have a sub-container formed with one or more sub-compartments which is mounted to the underside of the container cap. However, the sub-compartments in these devices are disposed at opposite ends of the sub-container element and are opened by threaded elements, thereby making them costly to fabricate and awkward to use.
The present invention seeks to overcome the disadvantages and shortcomings of the prior devices by providing improved structures for holding ingredients separately within a container which is inexpensive to manufacture, convenient and easy to use, and prevents accidental unsealing or release during shipping or handling.
In a third embodiment, the device comprises a sub-container body in cylindrical form having a proximate end mounted to a collar adapted to be held on a neck of the container by the container cap, said sub-container body having at least one inner divider wall aligned in parallel with a cylinder axis of the sub-container body dividing the interior of the sub-container body into a plurality of axially oriented compartments, wherein each compartment has a dispensing orifice formed at a distal end of the sub-container body and an ingredient contained in the compartment is controllably dispensed through the orifice by removing the sub-container body from the container neck and squeezing on a part of the squeezable plastic outer walls corresponding to the compartment.
In the above-described embodiments, predetermined portions of the squeezable plastic outer walls corresponding to the respective compartments are formed with an area of lesser wall thickness than that of surrounding portions of the outer walls, such that the thinner wall areas can be squeezed more readily to dispense ingredients from the respective compartments.
In a fourth embodiment, the device comprises a sub-container body in cylindrical form having a proximate end mounted to an underside of the container cap, and at least one inner divider wall aligned transverse to a cylinder axis of the sub-container body dividing the interior of the sub-container body into a plurality of transversely oriented compartments, wherein each compartment has a dispensing orifice formed at a predetermined position of the outer walls and an ingredient contained in the compartment is controllably dispensed through the orifice by squeezing on a part of the outer walls corresponding to the compartment opposite from the orifice.
In accordance with a one can container embodiment of the invention for use with a container having a fixed container top and a pull-tab with a pull portion, a tab portion removably covering a tab opening in the container top, and a center fixture detachably mounted to an outer surface of the container top, the device comprises the container top being formed with a plurality of exterior wells positioned on radially spaced sides from the pull tab and recessed into the outer surface of the container top, said exterior wells having respective sub-container vessels of matching shape carried therein with upper surfaces thereof disposed evenly with the outer surface of the container top, each said sub-container vessel having a radially inward portion thereof being held and protected by the pull tab in its unremoved position, wherein when the pull tab is removed from the container top the sub-container vessels can be removed from their respective exterior wells for dispensing of their respective ingredients.
In a one can container embodiment, the device comprises the container top being formed with an exterior well positioned on a radially spaced side from the pull tab and recessed below the outer surface of the container top, said exterior well having a sub-container vessel of matching shape carried therein with an upper surface thereof disposed evenly with the outer surface of the container top, said sub-container vessel being divided into a plurality of compartments each having a dispensing orifice for dispensing a respective ingredient therefrom, said sub-container vessel having a radially inward portion thereof being held and protected by the pull tab in its unremoved position, wherein when the pull tab is removed from the container top the sub-container vessel can be removed from the exterior well for dispensing of the ingredients from the respective compartments.
With these improved devices, multiple ingredients can be safely stored separately from the carrier liquid and conveniently used and controllably metered into the container according to the user""s tastes. Thus, a wide range of new liquid food products can be provided with better flavor, longer shelf life, and using otherwise unstable ingredients, and without any or with reduced amounts of preservatives.